Wedding Reception Decor | Advice for the Future Mrs

Photography Tips

planning your perfect party

I like to think that I know a thing or two about decorating. After all, it runs in the family! Throughout my childhood, my grandma and her twin (my great aunt!) would come over to my mom’s house anytime we were rearranging a room or thinking about buying new furniture. They always knew exactly how high to hang a picture on the wall and how to perfectly accessorize. We would take family trips to Hobby Lobby to pick out the perfect touches for a newly renovated room or upcoming holiday display. I like to think I picked up a thing or two along the way because flash forward to this year, and I had the chance to decorate my very first Christmas tree with Alex!

I didn’t take this task lightly. I may or may not have hand-selected each and every ornament (some from the Nutcracker Market and some from Hobby Lobby) with the idea that we were cultivating a lifetime collection! This process was fun, but there were definitely some unexpected bumps in the road. We bought a tree from Hobby Lobby only to remember that we had to stuff the giant box into my Mustang- oops! When we got home, we noticed the stand was cracked, so we started stressing about the tree falling over. Besides that, we decorated the tree, turned on the lights, and TA-DA! It was beautiful! And then we realized we forgot to buy a tree topper. I keep telling Alex this is the “Year of No Christmas Tree Topper” because we never did go back to buy one!

The moral of the story is that it was fun to daydream about our first tree, but it was a more time-consuming process than we had bargained for. Even after all of the unexpected bumps in the road, the tree turned out BEAUTIFULLY, and we will always cherish the first Christmas together in our home. Is this starting to sound like a familiar story line? It sounds a lot like planning a wedding, doesn’t it!? (:

4 tips to help you nail your reception decor

I think a lot of brides, like myself, are super detail-oriented and want to be hands-on throughout every aspect of their wedding day. Much like picking out the perfect tree and ornaments, I thought I could plan every detail of my wedding day as long as I put in enough effort. However, if there is ONE thing I could do differently, I would hire a wedding coordinator to help facilitate the set-up of my wedding reception. On the day of my wedding, my bridesmaids had to scramble around and set up the entire reception site in under ONE HOUR! It was crazy!!

Wedding planners can help you throughout the entire planning process to ensure that your vision comes to life, and there’s really no better solution to the wedding craziness! BUT, if that’s not a realistic option for you, here are some tips and tricks I learned along the way that helped me keep my sanity while planning my reception decor. These are my top 4 tips to make your reception decor picture-perfect:

Visit a showroom. Trust me on this one- the colors of napkins online are VERY different than the colors you see in-person at the showroom. It’s incredibly helpful to walk around a showroom to look at reception decor. You can put together a “mock table” by laying out linens and napkins next to your candles, etc. Other things to remember are to check the quality of the items (no scratches on the chargers, etc.) and to inquire about the size of the inventory for needed items. Bring a copy of your reception layout with you so you can order the correct number of table cloths and other decorative items. (More about this in Tip #4)
Bring color swatches. Going off of the last point, it is SO helpful if you can bring color swatches anytime you visit a showroom, florist, or other vendor who is providing items that match your wedding colors. If you don’t have swatches, you can even bring in one of your bridesmaids dresses, and I promise, no one is going to laugh at you! I even took photos of my wedding colors and bridesmaids dresses on my phone so I could reference them whenever I needed to. This was especially helpful when I picked out the linens and napkins for the reception tables and sweetheart table. (Remember: what the florist considers “cranberry colored” could be completely different than what you are referring to!)
Create your DREAM head table. Like most brides, you are probably operating under budget constraints. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t have your dream decor! Instead of decking out all 30 tables at the reception with elaborate florals, candles, and menus, consider focusing your efforts on the head table instead. The head table is typically where the bride, groom, and bridal party sit. You can make this one table over-the-top, and I will focus my photography efforts on it when I’m capturing your reception details. This is the perfect way to display those details you’ve been dreaming of without breaking the bank!
Use AllSeated to plan your reception layout/seating. If you are doing assigned seats, you will DEFINITELY want to look into this program! First, ask your venue if they have any seating arrangement programs they prefer you to use. If not, AllSeated is great! It allows you to plan out all of the tables (with exact dimensions, such as a 10 in. round table), place the number of chairs, and even assign guests to the seats. You can easily drag and drop the layout until it’s perfect. After all, you won’t want to start planning all of the tabletop decor or ordering floral arrangements until you know the layout/number of tables you will be working with. (Note: my venue provided this program for me. It came with the venue’s exact floor plan and dimensions already input into the system!)

a reception worth remembering

I will always remember my wedding reception. All of our wedding reception decor helped personalize the evening and set the ambiance! Our wedding reception was everything we dreamed about. I vividly remember walking into the reception for the first time and saying, “Oh my goodness- this is OUR wedding?!” It was a moment I’ll never forget. If you are in over your head with wedding planning, I hope these 4 tips will help you with your reception decor. Oh- and don’t forget the tree topper!!